Louisa Gertrude Pierce

The third marriage of Benjamin K Pierce was to Louisa A Read, in Baltimore, Md, which took place in 1838, seven years after the death of his second wife, when Pierce was 48. She died in January of 1840, apparently while Col Pierce was stationed in Plattsburg.

Info from: St Lucie County Historical Society

                 Massachusetts NEHGS

In a letter dated December 19,1839, Franklin Pierce wrote his sister Elizabeth (Mrs John McNeil) that he had heard from Benjamin in which it was written: "My dear Louisa is no better and I am under the most painful and growing apprehension that she will soon be summoned from this to a better place."

Her date of birth, exact date of death and place of burial are unknown...indeed, her parentage in also only speculated at...she may have died while Benjamin was stationed at Plattsburg and she may have been the daughter of a Judge Read of Florida/the Carolinas or Virginia or of a General Read who served in the 2nd Seminole War in Florida...